1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates, in general, to vehicle safety restraints and, more specifically, to inflatable restraints, such as airbags.
2. Description of the Art
Inflatable airbags are becoming an important safety feature in modern vehicles. Currently, inflatable airbags are generally standard equipment for vehicle driver seats and are becoming more common on front passenger seats due to federal regulations.
Upon sensing an impact, the airbags are immediately ejected from the dashboard at speeds exceeding 100 mph. As such, the inflating airbag imposes a considerable amount of force on any object in its path, such as a vehicle passenger. Indeed, this is the main function of the inflatable airbag; i.e., to absorb forces and thereby control and decelerate any movement of the front seat passenger(s).
However, recent studies have shown that serious injuries to children whether or not they are seated in a child seat mounted on the vehicle front seat and even frail adults can occur due to the high impact forces generated by the airbag. While it is preferred that children and frail adults ride in a rear seat of the vehicle, such is not possible in certain small size vehicles, such as two seat sports cars or trucks.
Federal regulations have been proposed to enable selective control over the passenger side airbag thereby preventing inflation of the passenger side airbag even in the event of a collision when a child is seated on the front passenger seat. One proposed approach is to provide an on/off switch to enable the driver of the vehicle to selectively control the "on" or "off" state of the passenger inflatable restraint system.
Thus, it would be desirable to provide an apparatus for controlling the inflatable vehicle passenger restraint system which provides an easily visible indication of the "on" or "off" state of the inflatable restraint system, is switchable between "on" and "off" states only by an authorized individual, and which prevents unauthorized switching by unauthorized individuals.